The present invention is directed to a dispenser for dispensing a small amount of alcohol gel hand rub for use by physicians and nurses during their normal activities, which dispenser is carried on the person.
It has been well established that one of the most efficacious antimicrobial hand gel is one that contains alcohol. It has also been established that a potentially major source of infection, such as gram-negative nosocomial pathogens, may be transmitted via the hands of a physician or nurse, after he or she has examined a patient, and has not disinfected the hands. Because of the busy schedule that physicians and nurses experience, it is not usually practicable or possible to disinfect the hands after having examined a patient. Simple washing of the hands with soap and water will not effectively disinfect that hands, and, moreover, repeated and frequent washing of the hands will cause them to become chafed and chapped, which will discourage the doctor or nurse from washing the next time such should be performed. Thus, the hands may go unwashed altogether.
In order to better disinfect the hands, doctors and nurses use a disinfecting liquid, such as "Ultracol" manufactured by Dexide, Inc. of Fort Worth, Tex., which contains ethyl alcohol and chloroxylenol in a glycerine gel base. The alcohol acts as a very effective disinfectant, while the glycerine base prevents chafing and chapping of the hands from the alcohol. However, the relatively-large containers storing these alcohol-glycerine gels are usually stored at a central location that is distant from the patients' rooms in a hospital, and the like. Since it is not feasible to return to such a central location after having examined every patient, nor of carrying such large containers around, the doctor or nurse will just simply wash the hands with soap and water, or not wash them at all, if they have become chafed and chapped from repeated and frequent soap-and-water washings, thus exposing patients to possible infection during the examination by the physician or nurse.